How big, is too big, for your tender?

MagicalArmchair

MagicalArmchair

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 Jan 2013
Messages
1,540
Location
Kings Hill, Chatham Marina
Visit site
Going ashore on the Deben was a challenge last year - with three kids, a 2.7M dinghy, a dog, and a picnic, it meant two, rather cramped runs. It also meant leaving the two older of the three kids on board alone whilst I dropped the first mate, youngest, dog, and picnic off at the beach, which I intensely dislike.

New year, new boat, so we need a new tender. I went a bit bonkers and went for a 3.8M dinghy to fit everyone in and I have some buyers remorse, is this simply too big? It'll fit on deck, but it'll overhang if we went for snap davits. The 3.2M is only a little bigger that the 2.7M so I fear, as the kids are already bigger this year and growing fast, they just won't fit. The 3.8 is lighter than my old 2.7 as its air deck, so moving it is quite straightforward.

The below is to scale of the Honwave 3.8 on deck - so it will fit on Mirages palatial foredeck. Stowing, where the red box is, will be harder as it'll over hang the lines being led aft. (there is no room in lockers I'm afraid).

hELTw5lh.png


Stowing location will be here:

hjN2VIXl.png


Too big? Anyone else got a 3.8 as a tender? About right? Opinions please.
 
hey , 3.2 metre tender , takes the Wife and me 10 year old and 2 large dogs , 9,9 hp slightly underpowerd fully loaded, but the 15hp just to heavy
I tow mostly, but when on deck I deflate it and it sits at the front this is on a 42 ft boat no Davits as a Ketch .
The problems is the v hull it needs to fit into the space as the tubes can be deflated , but you can get V shaped wedges made of foam and have tender sit up off the deck , to avoid your dorado and hatch , also potentially move your life raft to a Push-pit mounting giving you more spaces
Also they are heavy to lift out of the water , Just thoughts coming from my brain
 
MagicalArmchair said:
Going ashore on the Deben was a challenge last year - with three kids, a 2.7M dinghy, a dog, and a picnic, it meant two, rather cramped runs. It also meant leaving the two older of the three kids on board alone whilst I dropped the first mate, youngest, dog, and picnic off at the beach, which I intensely dislike.

New year, new boat, so we need a new tender. I went a bit bonkers and went for a 3.8M dinghy to fit everyone in and I have some buyers remorse, is this simply too big? It'll fit on deck, but it'll overhang if we went for snap davits. The 3.2M is only a little bigger that the 2.7M so I fear, as the kids are already bigger this year and growing fast, they just won't fit. The 3.8 is lighter than my old 2.7 as its air deck, so moving it is quite straightforward.

The below is to scale of the Honwave 3.8 on deck - so it will fit on Mirages palatial foredeck. Stowing, where the red box is, will be harder as it'll over hang the lines being led aft. (there is no room in lockers I'm afraid).

hELTw5lh.png


Stowing location will be here:

hjN2VIXl.png


Too big? Anyone else got a 3.8 as a tender? About right? Opinions please.
Click to expand...

We faced a similar dilemma and ended up with a 3.1. We only have 2 children ( although basically adult size) and no dog yet. The thing that i hadn't really taken into account when looking is the increase in usable space as the dinghy gets bigger. - Larger dinghies ( of the size we're talking about) tend to have the same diameter tube and same amount of tube aft of the transom. So your 2.7 m total length might have 1.7 of length from forward of the transom to the aft part of the bow tube. Going up to 3.7 increases your internal space from 1.7 to 2.7 so almost 60% more length. ( assuming dinghies beam is irrelevant in this)

For you to be comfortable, i would probable suggest something from 3.1-3.5 depending on size of dog and picnic would have been great!

Not sure that a dinghy wider than the boat is a brilliant plan but from your drawing - whilst it looks wider than your stern, it looks narrower than the maximum beam so you might get away with it.

Definitely worth having a chat with the retailer and seeing what you may be able to do
 
Too big is when you can't carry it up the beach easily.
A mate of mine uses a blow-up canoe to augment his sensible sized tender.
 
Hoisting any dinghy is best done by using the spinnaker halyard if you keep it on the foredeck. Use of a pole [?spinnaker?] will keep it away from the ships side and also a handy way to keep it when anchored/moored. I use the anchor winch too which makes it so easy peasy.
 
It's a common dilemma needing a Tardis solution. We have a Lodestar 290 which has good-sized chambers but it's still a pinch with me (6ft 4 and 16 stone), first mate (ahem, a few stone lighter) and three 5 stone German Shorthaired Pointers aboard. With dogs there's no opportunity to do a part load because they can't be left unattended at either end. It's ok for sheltered trips like the Folly or Buckler's Hard but coming ashore in a choppy anchorage is tricky.

It's stowed athwartships the transom on an arch davit because when on the foredeck it tends to foul the genoa sheets on each tack and is in the way when going forward. It can be hoisted high enough to clear the water even when heeled but since it lives there I put an extra drain hole and bung in the starboard corner of the transom to prevent rain water puddling too much, with a length of cord hanging through it to wick away what won't run out. Before I did that the standing water killed the seams in the inflatable deck and since a new one was zillions I replaced it with 12mm ply which though heavier does a far better job anyway, especially with dog claws.
 
For us the first limiting factor was space on the foredeck as the walkthrough stern is our front door to pontoon, harbour wall, tender or swimming so davits would be daft. But that’s nearly 4m so way above what we need.

So we went for a secondhand Caribe 3m grp rib for a happy 8 years but we rarely needed it’s full size and with winch gearing it took a few minutes to hoist onto the deck and our 5hp outboard couldn’t get it on the plane (although we use a Torqueedo 90 percent of the time).
So we swapped it 2 years ago for a 2.6m AL ultralight so aluminium not GRP, and in almost all ways it’s a dream. Lifting is trivial, much faster on Torqueedo or much longer range, and planes with 5hp. Downside is that instead of inexperienced guests stepping down into something very stable and solid it actually feels like a tender. Once you are on it it’s fine.
 
You don’t say the size of boat - but from the diagram it looks rather large for the mother ship.
Towing will probably be fine (take the outboard off first), the foredeck possible but will be awkward getting around.

I would say forget the snap davit option, other than perhaps stowage when stationary in a marina. If the dinghy sticks out past the stern at all, the forces when sailing are huge. The snap davits will do what they say - snap!
Proper davits, raising high above the water when heeled might work, but would need to be very strong (allow for rain water etc), and sticking out will catch on all sorts of obstructions when getting in and out of berths.

Suspect most people with large crews get a good outboard and do two trips.

PS We have a 2.7 Air deck on davits, with a wide sterned 40 footer, which is ideal for us.
 
We have 3.3m zeepter with 6hp Yamaha 2str on our Dufour 44. Stowafe is upside down on the foredeck. Unscientifically I think the outboard is >6hp; we are properly fast planing with me plus wife plus 2 kids plus baggage.

It came with the boat. Both dinghy and engine are too big. It's a pain to lift, it takes up lots of space, and the worst is the engine is uncomfortably mounted on the pushpit which keeps going wobbly as a result (i have added one round of backing plates and more are required)

If it comes to replacement I would go a size or two down.
 
I have three tenders, an Avon roundtail and a couple of seaworthy tenders. Each has its advantages on different occasions, but fundamentally, too many sailors have lost their lives because they had undersized tenders (unseaworthy, too tippy, overloaded, etc.)

I would rather put up with the tender looking a bit big or being a pain to stow than have to use something inadequate, especially when the kids were less strong swimmers.

Worst case, tow the darned thing, but you can always deflate the bow section if the foredeck is feeling a little overcrowded.

If you are bothered about the risk of dipping the tender when sailing if using snap davits, you could always go the whole hog and fit davits proper.
 
We have 2 tenders and can carry both in lockers deflated. The larger is a quicksilver airdeck which is around 2.7m but heavy hence a smaller seago . Additionally usually Have a seyvlor 2 person canoe. Always carry quicksilver deflated cross channel and inflate in Alderney etc but if it’s windy there the water taxi is a drier bet . Once inflated just carry half deflated on foredeck. It helps in all this dinghy stuff to have a spinnaker halyard on a powered winch and some form of battery powered inflator either a cheaper cable version or the posh one with integrated battery . I would love however to own an aluminium hulled version but not so tempted by prices and some smart davits but seems a lot of cash unless living in the med or crying around the WI etc. Also carry 2 paddle boards for warmer trips which can be towed with others on board if warm . Just considering upgrading the outboard from a merc 3.3 which is always the weakest link in tender stuff but cannot decide between a 6hp petrol and electric given price difference.
what size is your new vessel ? Ideally a Williams on davits with a drop down stern platform and side hoist for nights at anchor works well plus can store all the gash bags in it when sailing .
 
It's way too big. We have a 3.1m rib and it just about sits comfortably on the foredeck and just overhangs a little at both sides when on davits (on a Bavaria 49, which is quite a bit wider at the stern than your boat). When replacing, we are going to go down to a 2.9m.

I would have thought that 3m is about your upper limit really. Anything above this you will find too unweildy.
 
I imagine you're going to find it rather awkward to manage on board. It's simply too big, and too heavy, for easy handling.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top